Employment

Employers must make reasonable adjustments to make sure workers with disabilities or physical or mental health conditions, are not substantially disadvantaged when doing their jobs. This applies to all workers, including trainees, apprentices, contract workers and business partners. Reasonable adjustments include:

• Changing the recruitment process so a candidate can be considered for a job
• Doing things another way, such as allowing someone with social anxiety disorder to have their own desk instead of hot-desking
• Making physical changes to the workplace, such as installing a ramp for a wheelchair user or an audio-visual fire alarm for a deaf person
• Letting a disabled person work somewhere else, such as on the ground floor for a wheelchair user
• Changing their equipment, such as providing a special keyboard if they have arthritis
• Allowing employees who become disabled to make a phased return to work, including flexible hours or part-time working
• Offering employees training opportunities, recreation and refreshment facilities

Get help and advice

You can get advice on reasonable adjustments from the Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) at your local Jobcentre Plus office.

Access to Work may be able to support you if your employer cannot make adequate ‘reasonable adjustments’.

You need to have a paid job, be about to start or return to one.

You will be offered support based on your needs, which may include a grant to help cover the costs of practical support in the workplace. Your workplace can include your home if you work from there some or all of the time. An Access to Work grant can pay for:

• Special equipment, adaptations or support worker services to help you do things like answer the phone or attend meetings
• Help getting to and from work

The money does not have to be paid back and will not affect your other benefits (though you may not be eligible if you receive certain benefits).

You do not have to tell an employer about your disability unless you are asked direct questions about your health on a medical questionnaire. Under the Equality Act 2010, employers cannot ask candidates questions about their health that are unrelated to the job role.

Being open about your impairment is a personal decision and people often worry about discrimination, prejudice or lack of confidentiality. The main benefit of telling an employer is that it gives you more protection under the Equality Act if you have a dispute at work. If an employer can show they did not know you were disabled, you might have less of a case for discrimination. Other advantages could include:

• Some employers are keen to employ disabled people
• It could provide an opportunity to talk about yourself positively
• Adjustments can be put in place earlier
• You might build a better working relationship
• You can explain aspects of your CV that might otherwise count against you, such as gaps in your education or work history

Recruitment agencies can be a good way to get a job. They are paid by employers to find suitable people for vacancies, so they have an interest in getting you into appropriate work. They also have access to some vacancies that are not advertised and are free for jobseekers.

For temporary positions, the agency is usually the official employer. They make an agreement to supply you as a worker to somebody else but are directly responsible for paying you. The host company, where you actually do your work, is called a ‘principal’. Under the Equality Act, both the agency and the principal have duties not to discriminate against you and they have to make reasonable adjustments to overcome any employment arrangements or physical features of the workplace that put you at a substantial disadvantage. When deciding whether an adjustment is reasonable, employment agencies and principals will take into account how long you will be working. Permanent agencies usually work by receiving a fee from an employer for introducing you to them or for recruiting you. Your employer is covered by the Equality Act in the usual way.

Intensive Personalised Employment Support is a voluntary scheme that provides a personalised package of employment support for people with disabilities or health conditions who are unlikely to move into work within the next year and need additional support. A dedicated support worker will work with you to overcome barriers that may be stopping you from entering work. You can receive support for up to 21 months, including 6 months of in-work support if you get a job.
The support includes:

• Identifying skills, abilities and the work you are able to do
• Jobs searching, interviewing and CVs
• Access to volunteering, job taster sessions, work trials, local services and employers
• Help to find training that will help you find work

For more information on the support available, Visit www.gov.uk/intensive-personalised-employment-support

If you are aged between 18-30 with a viable idea for your own business, then you may be able to get the following help from the Prince’s Trust’s Enterprise Programme:

• Business skills training
• Business planning support
• Start-up loan funding
• Ongoing support from a volunteer business mentor
• Access to specialist support, including a free legal helpline
• And, if you start a business, access to a wide range of free and discounted products and services

For more information Telephone 0800 842 842, or Visit www.princes-trust.org.uk

Remploy give employment support and advice to disabled people. They cover everything from the basics of what makes a good CV, right through to landing the job that you want, and everything in between. The support includes everything from simple hints and tips, to coping with things like stress, depression, and anxiety, as well as returning to work after illness.

Telephone 0300 456 8110, or Visit www.remploy.co.uk

Leonard Cheshire offers a range of services to help disabled people into work and business, including skills training in computers, accessible media, and supporting disabled people to run their own businesses.

Telephone 020 3242 0200, Email info@leonardcheshire.org, or Visit www.leonardcheshire.org

The Papworth Trust has various programmes supporting disabled people who are long-term unemployed, as well as those who have acquired a disability as a result of a workplace injury, serious illness or a road traffic accident. They can support with a workplace evaluation, job searching, job analysis and matching, and access to Jobcentre Plus programmes where relevant.

Telephone 01480 357200, Email info@papworthtrust.org.uk, or Visit www.papworthtrust.org.uk/work

Blind in Business provides a range of services to undergraduates/graduates and employers to ease the transition between education and employment for visually impaired individuals. BIB works through the whole application process, from supplying recruitment materials and vacancy information in a range of formats, to providing specialist seminars and advice. All the services are free and available to any visually impaired young person looking for work.

Telephone 020 7588 1885, Email info@blindinbusiness.org.uk, or Visit www.blindinbusiness.co.uk

RNID can provide specific information and advice to deaf or hearing-impaired jobseekers.

Telephone 0808 808 0123, Textphone 0808 808 9000, Email informationline@rnid.org.uk, or Visit www.rnid.org.uk

RNIB provides information and advice to blind and partially sighted jobseekers. It also runs the Trainee Grade Scheme (TGS) offering paid work experience. You should contact your local RNIB Employment and Student Support Network for further information.

Telephone 0303 123 9999, Email helpline@rnib.org.uk, or Visit www.rnib.org.uk

Trailblazers is a campaign group of more than 800 young disabled people. They aim to fight the social injustices experienced by young disabled people and to ensure they can gain access to education and employment.

Visit www.whizz-kidz.org.uk

Disability Action‘s Employment and Training Service offers information and support for people with disabilities, to help them find and stay in work or vocational training. They also provide disability and diversity awareness training to employers, organisations, businesses and other interested agencies.

Visit www.disabilityaction.org